Little article on Fernando Gonzalez to get things going ahead of Friday night:
Eyes on the title, Fernando Gonzalez out to take his respect at Bellator 151
Josh Connor
Under the bright lights of the
WinStar World Casino this Friday night in Thackerville, Ok.,
Fernando Gonzalez (24-13) will make his MMA return at
Bellator 151. Having taken a brief hiatus from MMA to compete in the kickboxing portion of “Bellator Dynamite 1” in September against
Paul Daley (38-13), Gonzalez returns his focus to the Bellator welterweight division where he is riding the momentum of a four fight win streak and gunning for a title shot. Despite narrowly dropping the kickboxing match to Daley on the judge’s scorecards, Gonzalez walked away from the contest more confident in his skills and the progress he is making as a fighter after nearly a decade at
Team Quest.
Fernando Gonzalez vs. Paul Daley at Dynamite 1 (Photo credit: Bellator MMA)
"If it was an MMA fight, I won an MMA fight. Obviously, they scored the kicks above the strikes, so I can see how they gave [
Daley] the win, but the actual fight I feel that I beat him. This is someone who is known for knocking everybody out, and I went and fought him at what he is best at and had him running from me in the third round. To me, I feel I won that fight. The second and third round I believe were mine, but it is what it is. I still proved a point where I can hang with [Daley] definitely on the feet. I actually had him gassed and running from me at nine minutes, another six minutes I think I put him away.” -
Fernando Gonzalez
Standing in front of Gonzalez on fight night was originally to be highly touted and undefeated 9-0 Bellator welterweight
Michael “Venom” Page (MVP), best known for his flashy striking and crowd pleasing knockouts. However, after MVP withdrew from the bout for undisclosed reasons several weeks into the fight camp, Gonzalez began to form his own opinion about what transpired.
“I honestly believe the nerves got to [
MVP]. To me, it’s a sign of respect on my side because the way he is beating all these guys pretty easy for him to back out of a fight obviously shows how he views me as a fighter. That I am a tough test, and that I was going to give him a tough fight. He has only done that with a few other guys that are at that level,
Brennan Ward and
Kurtis Millender. For me, I didn’t really take it as a bad thing. I think it actually elevated my stature where guys are actually seeing I must be tougher than sometimes given credit for. Whatever reason he backed out for, I honestly think they don’t want to get that loss on his record without fighting someone who actually has a big name.”
Standing in MVP’s place on fight night and making his Bellator debut will be
Gilbert Smith (12-4), a
UFC and
RFA veteran who most recently defended his RFA welterweight title in October at
RFA 31 before signing with
Bellator. For Gonzalez, he welcomes the toughest competition possible as he looks to clear his path to a title shot in 2016.
“Since I came to
Bellator, I have asked for
nothing but tough fights. I want to fight the best guys in Bellator.
Gilbert is a tough guy so he is going to come in there mentally strong. He has got a lot of heart so I think we will make for an exciting fight to be honest. It’s his debut fight so he is going to come in there well prepared to put on a good show. I feel my
boxing skills are just a little bit better than his. He has good grappling, but I have really good
grappling people haven’t gotten to see yet. Training ten years with
Dan Henderson, you are going to pick up some skills on the ground. Basically where he is going to want to take it, I feel I will still be stronger than him and get that finish.”
Leading up to
Bellator 151, Gonzalez has been working extremely hard at
Team Quest to make sure his weight for this fight is on point as he knows that is the only current discriminator which could be used against him in his bid for the title. After nearly a decade in the trenches at Team Quest putting in the work, Gonzalez reflected on just how far he has come as a fighter since first joining the team nearly a decade earlier.
"When I came into [Team]
Quest, I was already a striker.
Dan [Henderson] had brought me in as a lefty to mimic
Vitor Belfort when he was fighting him the first time in Vegas. So, I came in there with striking already, but obviously I had training with good wrestlers and Division I wrestlers as well. I remember on my
first day at Team Quest I shot in on Dan [Henderson] to do something, and Dan
nearly knocked me out with a hip. Hips into me, sprawled, and I was like ‘Oh sh*t’. And then getting beaten up by him while on bottom, I was like ‘This is where I need to be to up my game on my wrestling.’ I thought I knew something, but once you go against an
Olympian it is a whole different story. I learned a lot from [Henderson], and I’ve been there about 10 years with Dan."
For Gonzalez, the road to the welterweight title starts Friday night against Gilbert Smith at
Bellator 151, and he looks forward to entering the cage and taking his respect one opponent at a time until the welterweight strap is firmly around his waist.
"I’m letting [Bellator] know I want to fight these guys. Eventually the top guys will have to fight the top guys, and I am one of them. Put me in there. I don’t care if it’s
[Josh] Thomson who has the title or
Benson [Henderson], whoever has the title, I want to fight for the belt so when I have it around my waist I can call out
Paul Daley. I can call out these guys who have no reason to run anymore. Get in here and fight me. I know the way I fight. Win, lose, or draw, [Bellator] are always going to call me back to fight. They are always going to give me another good fight, another opportunity.”
Fighter Take:
A future Bellator bonus system: "To be honest, you are going to see a lot more knockouts, a lot more people going for it. That is one of the biggest things I feel we are lacking a little bit. One fight [in the
UFC] can change a fighter’s life. You give me 20 or 30 [thousand] on top of what your purse is, I know for me I am going to go for the kill if they put that bonus in play. Just for the lifestyle too. I still kind of work and teach classes and stuff like that. The more I can dedicate myself just to my craft and getting better everyday, they are going to see better fights out of me. If they do that, [
Bellator] will be changing people’s lives. That’s what we are all doing it for. We obviously all have families and want to make sure after fighting we have enough to take care of them."
